Malaysian GP: McLaren Mercedes preview

Lewis Hamilton
"Firstly, we shouldn't get carried away by our podium in
Australia. Yes, we had a fantastic race but we're all aware that
our car isn't capable of repeating that sort of performance on
sheer pace alone. And Sepang is one of the ...

"Firstly, we shouldn't get carried away by our podium in
Australia. Yes, we had a fantastic race but we're all aware that
our car isn't capable of repeating that sort of performance on
sheer pace alone. And Sepang is one of the tougher tracks on the
calendar, one where we will probably be further from the frontrunners
than we were in Albert Park. The track is both fast and technical so
requires good mechanical and aero grip. It's much more
aero-dependent and rear-limited than Melbourne so it may highlight some
of the shortcomings in MP4-24. Nevertheless, we're all really
encouraged by the progress we've made and I know we'll be
pushing as hard as ever to put more points on the board in Sepang."

Heikki Kovalainen

"The Sepang track is a challenge because it requires several
compromises to get the best set-up. There are plenty of long straights,
where you ideally need lower downforce, but that gives the car a tendency
to slide too much through the high-speed corners. The best corners are
Turns Six and Seven -- the fast left-right esses behind the pits. In
the car, you've not only got to find the optimum balance, but also
make sure the brakes and cooling are efficient, otherwise you'll be
in trouble before you get to the end of the race. The only difficulty for
me is the heat; coming from Finland, we often see the same
temperature-readings -- but with a minus in front!"

"Despite a good result in the race, our performance in the
Australian Grand Prix was not what we would like it to be, and the
reality is that this weekend's race in Malaysia is unlikely to
offer a significant improvement in fortunes. Nevertheless, we are still
pushing to introduce performance to the car -- the close proximity
to the opening race means there won't be many large changes to the
car but there will be several upgrades to existing components. For us,
the mission is clear: we must introduce laptime to our car faster than
our rivals to enable us to, firstly, catch the leading runners and then
to be able to compete against them. It's a task we take incredibly
seriously and are confident that progress will be made sooner rather than
later."

Norbert Haug

Vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"With Lewis in third place, the season opener in Melbourne ended
much better for us than we had expected after his 18th grid position.
Compared to our test results in Barcelona two and a half weeks ago, we
made a good step. This result was mainly due to Lewis's perfect
drive and a good strategy by our team. Moreover, some of the incidents in
the race went in our favour. However, we cannot expect the same again
this coming weekend in Malaysia. We all will work flat out to improve our
technical package further -- that's a promise."